Human life is sacred since every human being, male or female, is a person created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and purchased by Christ at the cost of his own blood.
Abortion Murders a Human Person
Human life begins at conception or fertilization, when sperm unites with an egg. From the moment of conception, a human person exists. Consider Psalm 139:13–16, in which the psalmist’s “unformed substance” refers to when he was a zygote or embryo in his mother’s womb:
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Abortion is intervening to terminate a pregnancy and end a human life. Abortion causes the death of a human person. It kills a precious child who is loved by God.
Christians have been united from the earliest times in their scriptural belief that abortion is murder.
Christians have been united from the earliest times in their scriptural belief that abortion is murder. The Didache, a summary of the apostles’ teaching written in the late first or early second century, categorizes abortion as a “gross sin” and teaches that “you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten” (2). Abortion, even at the earliest stages of pregnancy, violates the sixth commandment.
Against Abortive Birth Control
Some forms of birth control are abortive or abortifacient, which means that they work by causing an abortion. For example, the abortion pill (mifepristone, formerly known as RU-486) blocks a hormone that a woman’s body needs to continue a pregnancy, resulting in the death of an unborn child.
Some forms of birth control are abortive or abortifacient, which means that they work by causing an abortion.
The use of abortive birth control is sinful and ought to be opposed by the church. Churches should warn their members about abortifacients and include a prohibition in their church’s manual or code of conduct.
While it is not morally permissible to use abortifacients, Christians may use methods that prevent conception (technically called “contraceptives,” though some use this term more loosely to refer to any kind of birth control). For example, the barrier method (i.e., condoms) prevents sperm from fertilizing an egg so that a human life does not begin.
There is a debate over whether or not some methods of birth control should be classified as abortifacients.
There is a debate over whether or not some methods of birth control should be classified as abortifacients. For example, some argue from recent research that some oral contraceptives (birth control pills), hormone contraceptives, and even intrauterine devices (IUDs) merely prevent fertilization with little or no risk of abortion. Others argue that these are at least potentially abortive—for example, by thinning a woman’s endometrium (the mucous membrane lining the uterus) so that it is difficult for a fertilized egg to implant. Since the research is not definitive, it is wise for churches to simply forbid “abortive birth control” or “abortifacients” and help their members to think through the ethical implications of using any given birth control method.
Those who inadvertently use abortive birth control, unaware that it ends the life of a human child, should be treated with grace and compassion, and not shamed or accused. In cases where a high-risk pregnancy threatens the life of the mother, church members will also need wise and compassionate counsel. To prevent unintentional abortions, churches should be proactive in teaching about abortifacients and other ethical issues. In these complicated times, it would be wise for churches to have a recurring class on Christian ethics.
Summary
Abortion is murder, and Christians should oppose all forms of abortion, including abortifacients. When it is unclear whether or not a method of birth control is abortive, church members should seek counsel from their pastors, consult the best research from Christian ethicists, and prayerfully consider the ethical implications of their decision. As always, we should use our Christian liberty to seek what is right and best, not what is easiest or most convenient—especially on an issue as fundamental as the life or death of an innocent human person.
